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Snow on Tungurahua
The view that has greeted me each morning for the past four months! I am constantly amazed by the snowy peak, even as the volcano spews steam! Last night I fell asleep to the patter of rain on the roof. Today I awakened to a brilliant view of Tungurahua Volcano, her craggy peak outlined with snow and her crater puffing steam. I have been in Banos nearly four months, entranced by the volatile moods of the Bascun valley. In the space of a few moments it will fill with dense clouds, and just as quickly clear out to reveal lush green hillsides. In a few days I will leave this house and I will be sad to say good-bye.
During November and December I was house-sitting for Shana and now that she has returned from her stateside visit, we have been sharing the space. Nearly every morning we meet in the dining room for a few games of breakfast Scrabble (which sometimes stretches into lunchtime Scrabble!) We both play quickly so our average game lasts 30-40 minutes. When neither of us has pressing commitments, we've been known to play for hours (up to 8 games a day!) OK, you might call it an obsession but we both thoroughly enjoy the mental stimulation and conviviality of our play. We play what
Amazon Basin Views
The Pastaza River broadens and meanders before connecting with the Rio Napo which flows to the mighty Amazon. (my hair looks awful here cuz I'm sweating in the jungle humidity!) my sister refers to as compassionate Scrabble -- no challenging questionable words, in fact we have the dictionary on the table at all times and are allowed to check spelling, validity or even graze for words! We also freely refer to two- and three-letter words lists. It's like I always told my middle school students, a rule is anything that everyone agrees upon!
My time in Banos also afforded me another day trip down toward the jungle. I went with Craig & his family to Puyo and beyond. Craig is doing doctoral research on watershed management and I was hired to drive him and his visitors down the avenue of the waterfalls (La Ruta de las Cascadas) and on to Puyapungo (the overlook to the Amazon Basin). We also stopped at an amazing orchid garden....can't wait to go back and spend more time there! The photos toward the very end of this blog entry are of some of the breathtaking blooms we saw!
After finishing up two months of teaching in Banos (private classes as well as an advanced conversation course at the
Mount Sangay
This foto is actually the backdrop to the previous one. On a clear day you can see the Andes looming in the distance over the river basin, but we didn't catch this view until we were driving out. BIB), I headed to Quito for a different kind of job. I had been hired to assess the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Certificate Training course at the EIL (Experiment in International Living) Center. The School for International Training (SIT, where I did my master's degree) oversees this program so they hired me as Assessor of the Jan/Feb Certificate Course. Five aspiring English teachers followed an intense month of coursework, and I spent two days observing the process and interviewing the participants.
This was a completely new professional experience for me. I have seldom been asked to evaluate someone else's work, and the trainer in charge happened to be a woman I taught with at Colegio Americano de Quito in 1988! It was interesting to meet the course participants and to listen to their stories, find out what drew them to Ecuador to study and hear about their experience during this intensive course. Most of the TESOL Certificate candidates were housed with host families and loved being taken care of by an Ecuadorian mama!
To my good fortune, my friend Maggie
Red Bananas...yum!
Less than an hour of driving and the views change from snowy mountain peaks to jungle banana plants! This variety of bananas is a peachy orange color inside. So sweet. (who's currently teaching at Colegio Americano) was away in Boston (recruiting for a new overseas job) the exact week I needed to be in Quito, so she loaned me her apartment. It was so helpful for me to have my own space to process my observations and to prepare my report for the university. Observing this program proved to be an enriching experience for me, and I hope to be the assessor again for the July training session.
My week in Quito reminded me once again how much I DON'T want to live in a big city. Traffic in the capitol seems to get worse every time I visit, and more often than not I leave my truck in Maggie's garage and take taxis where I need to go. I did have to do a fair bit of driving around this time, however, since I was picking up donations for the upcoming Garage Sale Fundraiser for the BIB (Biblioteca Interactiva de Banos - the Volunteer Library). My Quito friends always have lots of good stuff to donate! I will be doing the sorting, pricing and coordinating for the Garage Sale next month.
Quito Mountain Views
The wild juxtapositions of Ecuador -- a palm tree in the foreground with a distant view of snow capped Guagua Pichincha (the small peak to the left of the antennas). Right after returning to Banos (just a 3-4 hour drive from Quito), I jumped in the truck again, this time to head down to Cuenca. One of my students, Connie, is a recent retiree (she was also a teacher in the International Schools). We've been working on her conversational Spanish for the past month, and she's decided to rent a house and stay in Banos ahwile. She had left some of her bags in storage in Cuenca and she hired me to drive her down to pick them up. We had a wonderful time together and it was like an expenses-paid mini-vacation for me. Cuenca is such a beautiful city, and we had to slow our pace of walking to accomodate Layla, her geriatric dog! Therefore, we really took the time to admire the details of Cuenca's architecture and peek in the quirky shops on every plaza and corner.
So, I'm now back in Banos. Although today is my actual birthday day, you'll need to wait until my next blog entry to read about my extended bday celebrations....ok, I'll give you a sneak preview. This
Cuenca Cathedral
Stunning cathedral domes! New friend Connie and her 16 1/2 yr old pup Layla accompanied me to Cuenca, a 7 hour drive sw of Banos. evening Shana is making homemade pizza -- but it's not only for me. Her big sweet boxer dog Maxi also loves pizza and today is his birthday as well (he's turning 13!!). So, we've invited a few friends (human and dog) to share our pizza. Then, in a few days I'll be driving back up to Quito to catch a flight to Galapagos. I've been before (in 1990 on a small sailboat and then in 2007 on a luxury cruise liner with my Dad and my sister) but this time it will be a land-based tour. I will meet up with a friend who lives in Guayaquil and a friend of hers from the US and we will spend 5 nights in a budget hotel on Isabela Island. I'm psyched to do lots of snorkeling -- explore the wonders of the area, both under and above the sea! Stay tuned for details and photos of the bday extravaganza!!
If you've read this far please take a moment to drop me msg. I love to see who's following my blogs.Thanks for reading!
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Lisa Roth Elliot
non-member comment
Birthday greetings
Jill, Just as you requested, I'm sending you a message. I love seeing all your beautiful photographs and reading about your adventures. Perhaps we'll get to catch up in person someday soon. Until then, best wishes on your birthday~I hope it's a year full of good health and good times. Fondly, Lisa